Kreator – People Of The Lie (1990)

From the German thrash band’s 1990 album Coma Of Souls.

A couple of years ago, I blew off this band at a concert, and split early, after only about 3 or 4 songs, because I was unfamiliar with their material. When it comes to thrash, the very nature of the genre is such that the vast majority of live sound systems simply cannot sufficiently differentiate between the instrumental frequencies and timbres. As a result, live performances often suffer from the auditory perception of a bombastic layering of one frequency, a ‘oneness’ of sound, so to speak, and which I mean in a negative sense. Hence, if you’re not familiar with a band’s material vis-à-vis their studio work, where the aforementioned problems are more easily resolved, the odds are that you’re not going to enjoy the most important aspects of their live show. And, most importantly of course, is the material. If a band’s material isn’t good, that brute fact overrides everything. Kreator’s output, like many metal bands, is spotty, with what is probably a 20% hit ratio, but when they hit it, man, do they hit it.

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For another level of interpretive intensity, check out this live rendition of “People of the Lie”: ‘